Too Far Gone
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: In the end, the clutches of darkness were too strong to be broken by anything less. Set in episode 30 of Frontier.


**Author's Note**

It's a stupid idea I think, but oh well. I've been proven wrong on occasion, so who's to say it won't happen again. I wouldn't exactly call this an AU, only because of the ending. Though for all other means and purposes, you might as well consider the beginning as such, as the events do slightly deter off the beaten path; mainly, emotions and confrontations are taken a little too far, hence the title. Though I swear this story just took me in a big circle, but you'll probably see that yourself once you've reached the end.

By the way, I'm not very good at writing arguments. So sorry if that part sucks (which is quite a bit unfortunately).

All right, that's enough of my blabbing. Enjoy.

* * *

**Too Far Gone**

In the end, the clutches of darkness were too strong to be broken by anything less. Set in episode 30 of Frontier.

Koichi K/Koichi & Koji M/Koji

Rating: T

Genre/s: Angst/Tragedy

* * *

They found themselves across one another on the battlefield. Or rather, fate found them as such. Perhaps a field such as this could be easily swayed by the forces of nature had it not been barred of all save raw emotion and uncontrolled power. Conflicting powers, that of light and darkness, clashed, though while light still grasped its humanity, darkness seemed too far buried in his own element.

Water splashed around them as they tumbled together, opposing powers unable to exist in harmony simply because of corruption, warped emotions, and ignorance that plagued them, none the sin of either, but rather that which circumstance had forced upon them. Light, trapped due to its lack of knowledge and soon to be forced to take the ultimate action because of the bestowal of such, while the other was too far gone, buried too deep in the darkness fashioned by his own sadness, despair, anger and hate, amplified and moulded by a more powerful hand to simply become the puppet on the strings of the ruthless puppeteer.

Their swords clashed as the underground spring churned in turmoil beneath their feet. Sparks flew as conflicting powers clashed: light against darkness, darkness against light...though any fool could witness that darkness was by far in abundance in the deeper chasms of the digital world ruins.

And they would be proven correct as Koji Minamoto found himself pressed flat against the splintered stone with twin red blades crossed at his neck.

No amount of raw power could save him, with the glittering steel cutting into his throat and the eyes, the colour of dried blood, glaring with both anguish and hate though not fully knowing the cause, fixated upon his own brown ones, which he knew even despite being able to see, radiated the fear the fear that clutched his heart.

Perhaps it was the fear that unhinged his jaw, but the consequences taught him, even if he would never know less the cycle of time brought it forth again, the wisdom of silence; the song of darkness. But it is only when the past has occurred can be overwritten; adjusted or reoccurred; it was a trial and error process, so to speak. For destiny in any case, all else was simply fated to play their expected role.

In another present, he would keep his mouth shut, and transparency coupled with distant remembrance would save him. But then and there, his voice, the harsh light, echoed, shredding the darkness...though not how any present had imagined.

'Are you afraid?' he asked, the words just spilling from his lips without much conscious thought. 'You say my presence brings you pain. Are you scared of that then? Or me?'

The other said nothing, but the swords loosened slightly. Encouraged by the reaction, he continued.

'Why are you fighting in the first place?' Beowolfmon questioned. 'You're human, and yet you chose the path of evil.'

Still silence. The grips on the swords tightened again, all three.

The brown eyes narrowed. 'Is it because you're too weak to face the truth that you have to hide behind this facade? Because you're scared of what will happen if you do?'

'Be quiet!' the other roared, but he had let his guard down, and before he could blink, the Warrior of Light had twisted out of the other's grip and faded into the shadows...his shadows.

His gaze darkened at the sign of mockery from his adversary. Not that it really mattered, to be technical. The darkness was his element after all, and the seven eyes easily spotted the slightest movement in the surroundings, especially as the only other moving might as well be a fully lit lamp for all he was able to accomplish by trying, rather unsuccessfully, in the shadows.

And as soon as the red eyes focused on him and fired a Deadly Gaze, Beowolfmon realised that too. Too late though, as he was unable to dodge, and was thus forced to take the full brunt of the attack before launching a counter attack which was successfully blocked.

'What do you know?' Duskmon hissed, remembering the incident in Sakkakumon: Koji's pain, his troubles, and how they troubled him.

'More than you think,' the other said quietly, straining slightly against the twin blades. 'I know deep down, you're just a kid in pain. Like me.'

That statement struck a dull chord within the buried memory, and unbidden emotions raged further. The other's words, for reasons he then didn't know, or rather didn't remember, served to anger him further, and that anger, like fire does to objects sealed with wax, melted the seal and released the forgotten memories. Or rather, those stimulated by those words.

Of course, it helped that Cherubimon, watching from a holographic projection near the roof, directed their release.

'I _am_ like you!' Duskmon yelled, breaking free and slashing again, the warrior of light being barely able to parry the blow. 'And this...all this, is because of _you_!'

For the life of him Koji could not understand what the other was on about, but noting the distraction in fighting technique, the angry and aggressive snatches so wild that they were easily parried once the other gained his footing and grasped a relative hold on the situation.

He hadn't quite expected the other to continue his tirade though. It seemed, now that he had started, he was incapable of stopping.

'You have a whole family! A father you ignore and lack respect of even after all he's done for you! A mother who you reject simply because you pine for one your father told you was dead! And even when you knew in your heart he was wrong, you rejected it!'

'What?' the other breathed. 'What does my mother have to do with this?'

'She has everything to do with this!' The other roared, and Beowolfmon couldn't help but flinch back as the darkness grew.

'But she's been dead for-' The protest however, died on his lips as the rest of the concerning statement caught up with his mind. 'He was lying? But he wouldn't-And why would he-?'

'Because he fell in love with some other woman,' the other spat bitterly, striking before being easily parried. 'What he already had wasn't good enough for him, so he had to bury it. You were lucky enough to escape that burial. But he buried Mum, and me as well.'

He slashed again, haphazardly, and being easily blocked as the other, even at a loss regarding the accusation upon his father, maintained a reasonable fighting stance.

'My father wouldn't do that,' Koji protested again, albeit as weak as the first accusation. He doubted his own words immediately afterwards, remembering how he had seemed to know Satomi for far longer than he said, and how he almost never talked about his first wife. He was having difficulty in keeping his grip, though he parried the others with a definite ease, slowly but surely cornering him and the rage and anger which continued to feed the other's darkness and overwhelming him hindered his own fighting ability.

'You say that, but you don't believe it. You said I was afraid of the truth. What about you, whose denying what's right in front of your face?'

That last part thundered off the words as the double edged sword trapped its victim against the worn rocks, and the words trapped the other.

'Liar!' he roared, doubt suddenly driven from his mind. 'You're lying!'

'Why won't you listen to me?'

And then suddenly, several things happened at once.

Firstly, the two were suddenly staring right past the digimon armour right down to the bare skin; Duskmon was looking at what had been labelled as the source of his pain and anger, while Koji found himself looking once again at a face identical to his own and yet more like his own than his shattered facade was.

Secondly, the wall Duskmon was pressed onto suddenly turned blacker than the night itself, soonafter consuming the warrior of darkness as well as most the surrounding area, throwing the warrior of light back a good few paces before he could regain a physical foothold, his mentality still scrambling for a much needed one.

Thirdly, Koji's armour suddenly faded into a burst of digital data, revealing the human boy who stumbled onto his knees as a burst of energy burst forth from the D-tector, attempting to cut through the darkness like a flickering knife, Ophanimon's symbol appearing on the screen showing that she too was trying to stop the impending doom.

But the uncontrolled anger and rage which had been pushed, with assistance from a certain corrupted Celestial Digimon, proved too powerful, and all present watched in fear as they heard the sound of a chain breaking.

And within the darkness, another story was unfolding.

* * *

'He doesn't care about you,' Cherubimon whispered incitingly into his warrior's ear. 'The pieces are so obviously placed before him; a simple jigsaw puzzle and he is unable to put it together.'

'Any fool could have,' the other seethed, listening and accepting the song of evil with no resistance, anger, hatred, negativity...all influenced and expanded by the manipulation of the words exchanged.

'He doesn't care,' the Celestial Digimon continued. 'Why should you? Why do you continue to hold onto your human heart when it continues to hold you back? Why don't you let go of it?'

Winds of evil billowed around them, but the giant digimon was oblivious. It pressed the other from all directions, causing him to gasp out in pain from the junction of inner and outer turmoil, before a lone tear tricked down the black armour.

_'He doesn't care. He doesn't care.'_ The words echoed in his mind, mixing with other echoes, other memories as they overlapped one another, tripping in their haste for recognition.

_'Liar! You're lying!'_

'My _father wouldn't do that!'_

'_Why won't you listen to me?'_

'_Any fool could see-'_

'_He doesn't care! Why should you?'_

Duskmon screamed, a long, drawn out, human scream which reeked of a heart and soul burdened and crushed with pain.

'_He DOESN'T care! Why should you?'_

'Enough!' He finally yelled, hearing a chain snap in the distance but failing to notice the blue fractal code that was circling him. 'I'm through with caring! I don't care! I don't!'

'Then kill him,' the puppeteer commanded his puppet. 'Kill them all.'

Black wings, edged with crimson red, flapped hard before rising, and a crying roar echoed in the rock formations before it was suddenly obliterated.

* * *

Beowolfmon was, understandably, quite shocked as nature's castle suddenly shattered into dust. Without it, the landscape was barren, dust barely swirling at his feet, while a vulture which seemed to epitomize death itself shot towards its prey. Him.

He barely had time to duck before the claws scratched into his back as the bird pulled up to avoid a rather messy collision, flying higher before diving towards its quarry once more. A few more ducks and dodges (of energy beams that somehow managed to destroy even _dust_ particles) later, Koji was finally able to figure out why the digimon was attacking him.

'Where'd he get a beast spirit?' he exclaimed out loud, albeit accidently, but as there was no-one to hear him, it didn't really matter. What was more terrifying was the power it, as he wasn't sure it could be called a 'he' at his point, reeked of, and the obvious killer intent, if the angry roars were any indication.

And apparently, (coincidently) once those pieces clicked into place, Velgemon had enough of his little game of cat and mouse, and began carving a wide circle into the ground.

Beowolfmon stood in the centre, as Velgemon rose about the circle he had drawn, before domes began to rise from the ground.

'What? Wait a sec-' The light warrior gaped, before he was cut off by the angry vulture.

'Too late,' it growled, before it suddenly brought a wing down to block a fireball thrown at him, causing a slight mist to cover the area between ground level and his altitude.

The other legendary warriors had joined the quarrel.

* * *

'Good timing,' Beowolfmon groaned, as Zephrymon and Beetlemon hovered after their rescue mission, the other two currently engaged in distracting Velgemon in a foggy mix of fire and ice.

'Are you okay?' the wind warrior asked worriedly. 'What happened?'

'Duskmon...he slide-evolved into that thing,' he explained. 'I think I went too far, but I still don't-'

He suddenly stopped in mid-sentence as the rest of the pieces fell into place.

_But that's impossible...isn't it?_ He asked himself as he looked at the vulture that deflected the combined attack high and lost the others their one advantage.

But his heart told him it wasn't, and he finally understood how he had tipped the toppling cone.

* * *

The warriors of thunder and wind flew up to join the fight, only to have to change direction and intercept the bird intent upon it's prey, from the floor those of fire and ice having to do the same thing.

And unfortunately, it seemed that four warriors, even with one fusion evolution, were not enough to keep the angry vulture at bay.

'Why is he so intent at getting Koji?' JP, who had slide-evolved to provide more thunder-power, asked. 'What in the world did you _do_?'

Koji didn't answer, but Zoe cut in. 'Does it matter?' she shrieked, as Velgemon struck her wings, causing the feathers to crumble and her flight to waver until Aldhamon spread his own wings and flew up to catch her before she fell. 'Thanks,' she breathed.

Takuya grinned at her, before continuing her statement. 'All that matters is that we have to keep him away from-woah!' He cut himself off as he swerved to avoid the bird shooting past like a bullet.

Zephrymon unleashed her plasma pods as he passed, having gotten past both Korikakumon and Metalkabuterimon's attacks, intent on slowing his speed at the very least, but it seemed to do nothing as the other didn't even falter.

Aldhamon extended the guns on his arms and fired soonafter, hoping to accomplish more than the other attack had done, but the eyes tilted in his direction and the bird simply swatted the attack back at the two.

Beowolfmon stood up, watching as the last two warriors fall to the ground, realising that indeed nothing would stop the other from reaching him.

And could he blame him, after being so blind?

Easy prey for a mind-manipulating freak in any case.

And he never hated anyone more intensely as he did Cherubimon at that moment.

'Stop!' he yelled instinctively, even while knowing that his words had set the downward spiral to begin with. 'You have every right to be mad, but please, stop before you do something you regret!'

'Why should I care?' the other growled, halting his flight. 'I don't care.'

The third eye glowed, and the fallen warriors leapt again, only for Koji to stop them.

'But why?' the hot-headed leader asked.

Koji didn't reply to him, instead focusing on the beast warrior of darkness.

'I care,' he said quietly.

'It's too late for that. You didn't care.'

'I know...and I'm sorry.'

'It's too late!'

Without warning, an energy beam burst forward from the third eye, however blades of wind intercepted it. With an angry roar, he blasted again and again, only to be stopped with ice, fire, thunder and wind, before Velgemon slashed at the warriors, changing direction to rid himself of the insolences once and for all.

Only for all to stop again at Koji's shout, and the missiles that suddenly exploded above them to cut Velgemon's flight.

The other four lay sprawled on the ground, fractal code exposed and bodies beaten. The youngest was unconscious, and the other three almost so, but the warrior of light, saved from the blasts by his friends, raised the sword to chest level.

He would have killed them.

'Koji! Takuya shouted. 'You have to fight! You're the only one left!'

Perhaps it really was too late.

'I'm sorry,' he whispered again as he raised his sword., knowing the futility of the words though having to say them for the crime he was about to commit to save them all, including the one who looked so much like him and could only be the other half he till then knew nothing about, even as Velgemon fired another energy beam and the others, save the warrior of ice, evolved again despite being beaten so badly that their fractal codes were knocked out. The beam bounced off the sword and was reflected, before a wolf of light followed, striking the bird of darkness in the chest.

The bird shrieked in pain, the light having struck to close to heart, and the other's caught on the enemy's weakest point, launched their own most powerful attacks before the other could recover.

The cry echoed across the barren landscape, and darkness exploded in the air, leaving the body of its host as Cherubimon himself roared in anger for the lost of his most powerful, and most willing, slave.

The other screamed too, at the pure pain that tore apart his soul in pulling it from the grip of darkness. The form split, and the spirits of darkness released their grip from the unfortunate soul as Beowolfmon raised his D-tector and scanned them before returning to his human form and being left with the horror of what he, what they, had done.

But Velgemon had been right. It was too late. The grip of darkness was too strong to be broken by anything less.

Anything less would have killed them all.

_'Thank you brother...'_

He looked up, even as the others fell in their own positions, and saw his mirror image...no, the boy he had seen as Duskmon, before him. But in the split second it took for his mind to truly _see_ the other, even think about hoping that he was all right as concern took the forefront of his expression for a fleeting moment, he was gone, and he saw nothing else save the barren landscape before them.

_Why did things have to go this far..?

* * *

_

Koichi blinked, and suddenly it appeared as though two realities had converged into a single image. Crowds of people surrounded him, bustling around him, and on occasion, bumping into him, and beyond, the elevator and the one who he followed nearing its proximity in the sea of people. They were solid people, no hint of transparency and yet he could see in another moment a white floor and worried faces hovering over him out of the corner of his eyes as the rest of his vision was swallowed by the blackness of his own shadow.

His head hurt, and yet he could not fathom why. The pain itself was sharp, or rather, as sharp as the reality he saw, and as dim an echo as it was soon swallowed up as a single reality was defined as the objective. He lay still; the right portion of his face, along with the palms of both hands, fell the coldness of the ground he lay on, and yet he was running through multitudes of people in his reckless haste, his feet carrying him towards his destination as speedily as they were able.

Distantly, like an almost forgotten dream, he felt the weight of a sword in his hands, the clashing sparks of darkness opposing light and pure agony as though his soul was being ripped from his body. Far away, he could hear the frantic plea of help, the anguished soul cry out, the anger and hate which enveloped all else and the resultant desolate cry of a long lost soul in its final, desperate, bid for freedom. Then afterwards, the tears of sadness and worry filled gazes which were fixated upon him; two boys, one he knew by name, the other by sight though in lieu of the rapidly depleting memories he may have known farm more, then other faces, foreign to him, blinking at the edge of his gaze as the rest was devoured by the whiteness of the tiles upon which he lay or the blackness which his shadow created in respect to the light which shone above them.

The concern hovered a moment, as though someone was hurt or injured. It reminded him of something, a sense of déjà vu as though he had come across the exact expression some place before. But within a split second, he was being jolted by the dense crowd as he attempted to carve his way through the throng and reach out to the one he followed, and that memory too faded with whatever ambiguity remained.

It was all gone, and he was running; he had been running, and he still ran, until the solid obscurity of the closed elevator doors prevented him from doing so any further, the doors having slammed shut just seconds before he reached them, spiriting away the pinnacle of light which drove him forward.

In desperation, he slammed his arms against the door, crying out the name of the one he pursued even as the distance between them grew, and the likelihood of such a meeting as that which he wished ever taking place.

The desperation was illogical, and if he had taken the time to rationally think things through, he would have realised that. But the capacity for rational in such a situation had been inhabited by the numerous near-success attempts which ended in accumulating failure, and thus accumulating desperation for success.

Blue eyes darted, hastily searching for an alternative route, before fixating on the changing numbers which told the journey of the elevator shaft: 0, B1, B2.., and then his eyes switched to the staircase just in sight, and the action preceded the thought.

He ran down one flight of stairs without incident, turning sharply at the landing and setting off down another. But when uncontrollable emotion, especially in the incident of irrationality where such feelings contradict and yet overcome logical thought, one advantage is sacrificed for another, and when speed takes the place of caution, disaster is inevitable.

A thought floated through his mind, but the action, the awkward twist of an ankle, and the succeeding consequences instantly overrode that before it took root, and at the end of a tunnel in which his body and mind seemed distantly separate as he stared at his own prostrate body, he lay sprawled on the white tiles with darkness and pain consuming his senses.

And as the new future overrode the old, a single word fell from his lips, something that remained constant despite the numerous tangents that erupted from the present time, some cyclic in their progression while other not yet all somehow intertwined. A whisper too quiet to be heard by the onlookers and too desperate to matter to them except in relation to him, despite the common name which fell from his lips.

'Koji...'

Then his eyes slipped closed, and the future, once again, took its course.

* * *

_**THE END**_

By the way, if you were wandering what happened towards the beginning, Koji's statements coupled with Cherubimon triggered the emotions before Koichi was quite ready to face them. So they pushed him over the edge. Because of the bad timing, Ophanimon didn't have enough power to return the rest of Koichi's memories, and even if she had, it wouldn't have made a difference in the grand scheme of things.


End file.
